1. Field
One or more embodiments relate to a user input device, and more particularly, to a touch panel and an electronic device including the same.
2. Description of the Related Art
A touch panel is a kind of input device used to generate an input signal and to determine a position of an input device such as a user's finger or a touch pen, etc., by sensing the contact thereon. Input data or signals may be generated on using a touch panel by contacting or pressing the touch panel with a finger, a stylus pen or the like. The touch panel may be used in association with a display. A touch panel which is mounted on the screen of a display, such as Liquid Crystal Display (LCD), Plasma Display Panel (PDP), Cathode Ray Tube (CRT) or the like, is called a “touch screen”. A touch panel may be integrated with a display to configure the screen of the display or may be attached additionally on the screen of the display.
The touch panel can be substituted for an input device such as a keyboard and also allow simple manipulations. Moreover, the touch panel can provide various types of buttons according to the types of applications to be executed or stages of the executed application. Accordingly, a touch panel, specifically, a touch screen, has been widely used as an input device for electronic equipment, such as a mobile phone, a Personal Digital Assistant (PDA), a Portable Multimedia Player (PMP), a digital camera, a portable games, an MPEG-1 Audio Layer 3 (MP3) player, etc., as well as an Automated Teller Machine (ATM), an information trader, a ticket vending machine, etc.
A touch panel can be classified into a resistive type, a capacitive type, a saw type, an infrared type, etc., according to methods of sensing inputs. A capacitive type touch panel determines whether a to generate an input signal and a position of the input device by measuring variations in capacitance due to contact or pressure. However, the capacitive type touch panel fails to offer a sense of input, that is, a feeling of recognition that a user gets upon inputting. In order to overcome this disadvantage, a method of installing a vibration motor below a touch panel has been proposed. The method offers users a sense of input by vibrating the whole touch panel using the vibration motor when contact is sensed.